Anyone interested in going to Japan to get the new VO game?

[Porcupine]

VOTwinstick says he wants to plan a trip to Japan when the new VO game comes out (release date February 15, 2018). I rarely travel but I said I would consider going for this. Anyone else want to come? I don't play on twinsticks much so I probably wouldn't be able to compete well, but I think the primary purpose for going would be just to meet various Japanese players and each other.

[Porcupine]

VOTwinstick and me have purchased our tickets and a room, we'll mostly be in Akihabara from 2/9/18 to 2/19/18. It has 2 beds but can accommodate a couple more people if you don't mind being cramped and sleeping in a futon.

We were considering Osaka but that's not happening anymore. We might visit Shinjuku for a bit. My trip there in 2006 was probably ideal, as I was just told they were the top player spot in Japan back then (for both Soul Calibur and Virtual On, apparently). Whoever perfected me in VOOT were top players since I played at the special weekly gathering (I was invited by Soul Calibur players).

But Shinjuku doesn't have VOOT anymore so everyone must go to Akihabara now.

[VOTwinstick]

Further explanation and helpful links that will get you on the "VO Crew 2018" to Japan can be found: https://www.vo-mc.com/
Three other VO pilots have expressed interest in joining... this little thing Porcupine & I are doing. We've done some research. So go ahead... check it out. Take a shot... This is real & happening... Transport to Japan will take off in bout 100 days from now. Review your options...make contact, get your tickets and our Western touring crew will roll the Eastern town... red white & blue... or whatever

[VarryoSchwert]

Here for A.KING Vaash~ RIP

vash.jpg

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You are the abuser. Buddy.

[VOTwinstick]

Character of the author is evident. Thanks for wrecking the time line Varryo. Why don't you go to Japan with us? Huh? Oh yeah, daddy said no and won't give the dough. I hope you are not shipwrecked much longer. Your country needs you

[Porcupine]

It was a pretty good trip. If anyone else wants to go to Japan anytime, I will be up for returning if you think you can put up with me. We hadn't expected it, but Silber Live picked us up from the airport, introduced various players, and showed us around almost every day. He paid for a lot of our meals and with my feeble knowledge of Japanese I wasn't able to grab any of the bills.

I was worse on twinsticks than I expected. I thought I would be decent since I played a few times at SHGL but I started out barely able to move. I improved rapidly (better than expected) but was still quite below normal at the end. Playing against mostly S-rank players didn't help either. The arcade scene is still healthy despite the few machines left. We may have seen a hundred players. The true population is at least double of what was seen on Xbox Live and the skill level is higher too.

I mostly played VOOT. On the real sticks the speed of execution is faster than the clunky OMG sticks. Some of the Japanese players are quite rough, especially some of the top ones. They really bang it up and I think the arcade workers fix the sticks every day (they get floppy then are later normal again). Force should be easy on sticks due to the slow speed, but as I had never played Force on them before, I was even worse than on VOOT. It still takes practice to relearn the timing of nonbasic maneuvers.

Here are a few of the other players we either saw, met, fought against, or had dinner with:

manila:

• Longtime arcade player, came with Silber to pick us up at the airport. Strong player, like most. Beat me with Battler.

Tasukete Erinnn:

• Often plays with us on XBL but an infamous villain in Japan so unfortunately our meeting was limited to the first day. I hope to get to play with him the next time I return.

EmptyHonest man:

• Force and OT player, and secret ally of Tasukete Erinnn! Hopefully get to meet him again too.

you_negibozu:

• XBL Force player, treated us to dinner the first night, then got drunk with Silber Live and VOTwinstick and couldn't get home. I don't drink so I didn't understand what was going on until it was too late.

S Zetto:

• No.1 Battler, maybe a rare arcade appearance? He left an hour before Soyoka arrived, who apparently doesn't know what he looks like in real life even though they always fight in online tournaments.

Menchi:

• Raiden player, looked like one of the oldest ones. Supposedly the current No.1 in all of Japan. He was both my first and last opponent in Japan. I lost every round though the other players said they were good fights. I'm not so sure.

dokufu:

• She was with us almost every day. I was surprised I could beat her on twinsticks because she looks scary good but she currently plays kind of like Shamanic, so I didn't have to become her servant or commit seppuku.

Soyoka:

• No.1 Cypher, plays with us often online. He looks strong on twinsticks but plays much more aggressively than on pad and is said to be weaker. He says his arms are sore after a few matches and he can't fight anymore. He wonders why Zaarock didn't come, and joined Silber in contemplating whether Schooly or Zaarock is stronger.

AZY:

• No.1 Cypher in arcade since he weighs more than Soyoka and can use twinsticks. In the arcade he fights like a combination of Schooly and XBL Soyoka, and rows in particular to keep away. I wasn't able to beat them.

hiroelza:

• A strong arcade player, starting seeing him on XBL lately. He killed AZY using Temjin, so there should be some way to beat Schooly. Made mincemeat out of me. Also uses Fei and Grys-Vok.

poi:

• He used to play with us a lot 5 years ago but has become rare on XBL as he focuses on the arcade scene. At this point he is an S-rank player with most VR and is considered the No.1 Grys-Vok? I can compete with him online but not on twinsticks. Menthol and FlyExponent shouldn't be too discouraged from fighting my Fei since I'm pretty good at fighting Grys-Vok thanks to the experience you guys gave me.

Grys:

• Strong arcade player named Grys. He does rowing and crLTCW rotation cancels flawlessly even on twinstick, which I didn't notice poi doing in arcade. Poi says his technique for doing it on twinstick is different but I couldn't understand the details.

Tsumugi Sora:

• Angelan player, recently playing on XBL ranked. He didn't always row against me online until he lost a couple matches and got serious, but he always rows in the arcade even against the CPU. His technique is the original style (side to diagonal-back) and I was surprised that he doesn't mix/reverse them on twinsticks, but keeps the exact same inputs as on pad. Maybe it works better when you add the diagonal-forward row at the end.

Thousand:

• No.1 Bal, won one of those online tournaments a few years back. I fought a number of matches with him and almost won one, then poi or hiroelza had to show me how it's done. Another day, Tsumugi Sora won with Angelan and the other players said Thousand was drunk.

joevc:

• Angelan player I used to play with 6 years ago who traveled from southern Japan to meet us and go to Wonder Festival. Due to the short time he didn't play any games. Not sure if he remembers me.

inushiba:

• Force player who played with us a few times online and hung out with us a couple days. Had a decent win streak in Force with him carrying me against unknown opponents who probably weren't that strong. Come to think of it, I had some other wins in Force too but I can't get the nightmare of my first Force match out of my head.

CrazyAnchang:

• Force player who organizes a few gatherings or tournaments, he got upset a few years back when we did some of those weird stuffs but I think by now that's long in the past.

refma:

• Strong Fei-Yen PH player who always says she is sorry for making her opponent lose online and has a private profile, but in real life she seems to be the true boss of CrazyAnchang and that gang. We didn't play any matches though because there was some internal dispute among the Japanese players similar to our own squabbles.

Act747:

• Force player who I don't know if I played with before, probably, but I never knew she was a girl, or part of this gang.

Monel:

• Grys-Vok player, I think my Fei-Yen annoyed him in the past because he usually refuses my challenge but he gave me the best present of the trip, some official Force Fei-Yen goods set from Comiket that I never knew existed. Thanks!!

ApeStone:

• Plays with us all the time on all three VO games. Closer to our level but would have kicked my butt on twinsticks if we had played. I don't think he is in the refma gang but for some reason he appeared with them. I was really glad to meet him.

Aniking:

• Finally got to meet the legend, thanks for coming out to meet us. Apparently he and many other Japanese players hate Fei-Yen and I never knew this. Hasn't played since that last Japan event, and isn't that comfortable with twinsticks either, so we only played one match. I used Grys-Vok since Fei-Yen is banned.

Willard:

• Plays with us online and came in from Osaka to join us for the first weekend, he was the first to commit. We didn't play each other but I thought he put up a great fight against strong players that kicked my butt. Either he has gotten a lot better or I am more degenerated on twinsticks than I admit.

souri:

• Not a heavy player but flew in from remote Japan and was our translator for the first weekend, great guy to be around. He expressed interest in visiting America so hopefully we'll be able to return the favor for him one day.

Tappo:

• First generation OMG player, also traveled from distant Japan to join us. Unfortunately OMG machines have gone extinct in Tokyo which feels bizarre considering it was the only VO game officially released in US arcades.

wangren:

• The only other Fei-Yen I saw. He barely beat me in a match, but I can sense the aura of another Fei so I just blame the sticks. He did much better against the other Japanese players, so I should at least be the same if I can get normal.

Code_mts:

• Played Force with us online a number of times. Skilled with the standard Apharmd J. He showed up unannounced at an odd time so it was a surprise to see him. I didn't see him play any matches, so I think a number of the Japanese players might have come out just to see what we look like.

We also had dinner with two arcade OT veterans one day but I forgot their names. Espoir Raiden apparently got famous by beating one of them. They used to have large VO arm wrestling drinking parties until Espoir Raiden (a muscleman) broke two players arms. I tried to watch videos of it on their cell phones but when it got to the good part they took it away, it was too traumatic.

Almost all the current Japanese VO players are 33 to 36 years old, so second or third generation. I'm one of the few first generation players left. I don't look that old though so I still fit in.